St. Catharines, Ontario -- Gianmarco Raimondo, 2008 Formula BMW Americas
Rookie Champion, headed straight to Italy following double podiums in the
final round of the 2009 Formula BMW Americas Championship at Mosport. The
18-year-old rising star in open wheel racing tested with Team Corbetta
Competizioni of Italy at the Vallelunga Circuit. Setting a blistering
pace and coming to grips with the car quickly, Raimondo was impressive in
his maiden F3 run. For the young Canadian talent this would be the first
racing experience at the wheel of a Dallara F309, after concluding with a
victory in his final weekend of FBMW Americas competition.

"I was surprised it didn't take me long to get use to the car. It has
roughly the same power to grip ratio as the Formula BMW, so I could
transfer a lot of my driving habits to the car, which was a big bonus,"
comments Raimondo. "However, the tracks over in Italy also help with
your driving and racing because they are very smooth and have plenty of
grip."

On the heels of the successful test weekend, Raimondo along with Team
Corbetta Competizioni principals decided to extend his European program.
Raimondo stayed abroad as a guest of the team at Imola, where he could
assist to the sixth round of the F3 Italian Series and get acquainted
with the technicians on the team. In a recent Team Corbetta Competizioni
release Angelo Corbetta, Team Principal had this to say about Raimondo's
test:

"Raimondo showed since the first kilometers a deep technical maturity
and an highly professional approach to working. Obviously he needs to
adapt to a completely new single seater but in his first testing day he
scored very interesting lap times; we do not have particular objectives
for Vallelunga: it will be important for him to run as many kilometers as
possible and to start acquiring that experience that in the future we
hope will allow him to aim high in Italy too."

Team Corbetta Competizioni decided to take Raimondo to debut at
Vallelunga in the second last round of the Italian Formula 3
championship. In the first practice session on day one, Gmo would clock
in at 13th and then headed into the second practice and crossed the
stripe in the 16th spot. Following a debrief with the team and working
with a new engineer, the team looked to make some changes to gain speed
in critical sections of the track.

Raimondo would hit the track for qualifying and secure the 16th spot for
race one. In race one Gmo would move forward quickly toward the top ten
and finish 11th after a solid battle in the closing stages of the race.
In race two Gmo started from inside the sixth row in the 11th position.
Battling a less than perfect car, Raimondo would continue to struggle
with understeer which hampered his forward progress at the sharp end of
the field. At the flag he would cross in tenth spot, a solid debut
weekend making all the scheduled laps and running consistent laps.

"I fell in love with the Formula 3 car. It's such a better car than I
expected. When braking at 3G's and accelerating from 0-100 km/h in under
three seconds, its such an amazing feeling," smiles Raimondo on his
return to Canada. "To race them was even better, especially in the rain.
For my first F3 experience, it was definitely a good one because I
managed to learn and race the car in almost every type of weather
condition."

Before heading home, Raimondo had one more, small piece of business - a
trip to England for the Grand Prix Shootout. There are a number of
"young driver" programs in motorsport, however, none of them are as
international or accessible as the Grand Prix Shootout. Grand Prix
Shootout is a genuinely global competition and is not at all exclusive.
The test took place at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in
Leicestershire, in the UK. Rob Wilson, lead instructor, uses standard
hatchbacks and works with the driver to set the fastest time possible
around the circuit, the same format he used to select the drivers for
Honda F1's young driver program. With as many as 80 drivers competing
worldwide, only eight will be called back to compete in Wales, UK for the
final shootout in late November.

"The Grand Prix Shootout in England was also a good learning experience
because of the training we received from Rob Wilson. It was very
different driving on the right side of the car rather from the left, and
shifting with your left hand as oppose to your right," recalls Raimondo.
"Adapting to the Fiat 500 Abarth was a challenge as well because I just
came from racing F3, however after 2-3 laps I was comfortable with the
car."

Gianmarco Raimondo completed two seasons as a Formula BMW Americas Junior
Driver, winning the coveted Junior Scholarship in 2007 and taking the
2008 Formula BMW Americas Rookie Championship. Gmo was born and raised in
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada and is building a strong on track racing
resume along with off track appearances and special event programs.